Monday, 18 January 2016

The case of Huhtiniemi. Looking back into previous forensic conflict archaeology in Finland.

According to persistent rumours in Finland (after WW2) the
Finnish army held secret war courts for deserters in Lappeenranta SE Finland
during the summer of 1944 after the Soviet offensive that same year. The
rumours were supported by finds of several skeletal remains in the area over a
prolonged period of years after the war.

Picture from the archaeological excavations
(2006).

It was assumed that convicted deserters
were moved to Huhtiniemi, executed by firing squad and buried in unmarked
graves. Because no records of the activities of the "Greater Saimaa's" regional
court martial from 1944 had been found, some believed the records had been
deliberately destroyed.

Archaeological excavations were carried out
by the dpt. of Archeology University of Helsinki at the site in 2006. During the excavations
the skeletal remains of 11 people, all male and aged early twenties to middle-aged, were found.

Forensic research and archaeological finds revealed that the
skeletons belonged to Russian servicemen who died in the garrisons of the
area in the 18th century. The cause of death was most likely disease, as the the bodies showed no evidence of battle trauma, gunshot- or other wounds.

An orthodox cross found in the vicinity of
one of the buried Russian soldiers.

Further excavations thave not showed
evidence of any more mass graves in Huhtiniemi area in Lappeenranta. According to the official report by the research team (from October 2007) all possible WW2 mass grave sites in Huhtiniemi area have been
examined and found to be empty of human remains.

The skeletal remains of the
deceased found during the archaeological excavations were properly reburied in 2015.